Book Review -- Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome

I took a phone call about six months ago that really got my attention. On the other end was a pastor who was having to endure some very difficult times. He was a good friend of mine and I know that his motivations are right but his understanding of “success” is all wrong. I tried to carefully and gently share it with him and the graft did not immediately take but in time it will because the pain that he is having to endure will bring clarity to what I told him.

As I listened, I discovered that I had heard this conversation countless times in the last 10 years. I noticed that there were some minor variations in the details of the call and that only the geography had changed. The geography was different but the essence of the story was not. I am coming to fear that far too many good men have allowed the American Dream concept of success to totally wreck the biblical prototype of successful ministry. If you are a minister, pastor, assistant pastor, or fill any other role in the American church, I plead with you to do a deep and careful study of 1^st and 2^nd Timothy, Titus, and for good measure toss in 2^nd Corinthians. Paul's words to Timothy and Titus map out a job description for pastoral ministry and 2^nd Corinthians gives the picture in shoe leather of what a man is to do that is in spiritual leadership especially under duress. If you choose modern books on business leadership to define your job description, ultimately what one will learn to do is gather up a host of tares and build a “tare house” of worship. The last time I checked Covey, Blanchard, Maxwell, Drucker, Holtz, Wooden, Collins, Csorba, Lencioni, and the chief heretic of all, Ayn Rand, weren't apostles and they could provide me with zero instruction of the spiritual aspects of building God's church. Sadly, I have spent a lot of time with these clowns before I chunked them all about 3 ½ years ago. I finally decided that Paul could give me a whole lot more insight into what God wanted than someone whose chief goal in life was to sit on top of a totem pole that exalted materialism.

One of the specific reasons that many pastors feel that they are failures is because they are not living up to the standards set by the business world to build the church. If the numbers were up, they were up. If the numbers were down, they were down. Everything had to do with line and bar graphs that measured attendance and dollars. The focus of ministry suddenly degenerated into one becoming a “spiritual bean-counter.” Ministry no longer focused on personal godliness of the man, holiness of life, integrity of character, and the stability of his home.

As time progressed, Satan sat in his corner and took a holiday. He decided that he would let the pursuit of “success” eat the soul out of the preacher and it would not only kill the man but it would kill his family and the church that he was serving. Kids would go haywire and a marriage would dry up, but before it did it would have to endure a thousand painful blows. It would not be long until the church would get lost in a pantheon of confusion that pursued humanism and idolatry. So presently the devil is sitting back just watching a lot of good men simply self-destruct in their pursuit of the wild numbers game called success.

In the pursuit of success, he would either get “it” or he wouldn't get “it.” Either way the devil would win out. Those who got “it” often got so busy that they worked for years building the church before they realized God had not been there in a while. In fact, success had kept them so busy that they really did not know how long it had been since God had been eased out the door on a greased track by professionalism. Don't worry about God, just make sure those PowerPoints are nifty and the lights are working and the sound is right where it needs to be. “Quick give me one of those handy little sermons that are wrapped in tight, relevant packages. Better yet, let's do a series so that things are mapped out for six weeks!” The band played on and the tares grew higher and higher until pretty soon there were only a few bedraggled stalks of wheat left. It would not be long until the tares would get them too and the whole harvest would be lost. Yet, the bars and lines on the graphs were leaping off the page. Numbers and money was up but the church was dying from a famine of Bread.

Pastoring a church in these times can be very challenging. If we aren't careful we can fall into the same trap that Nabab and Abihu did and offer a strange substitute that God isn't going to be real pleased with. It will end up costing us everything just as it did with Aaron's sons.

Back to my phone call that I first mentioned, the story went on of how that this good man had poured his time, his finances, literally his life into what God had called him to do. He rehearsed with me some of the difficult pressures that his family had been forced to endure because of his absence due to ministry demands or his work demands from a secular job. His children had been fatherless and his wife had been “husband-less” all in the process of “building a church.”

Over the years, it comes to my mind now that I know of several ministers whose marriages have literally fallen apart and they are now divorced because of the pursuit of “success” in the church. I am aware of a trail littered with their children who are now totally out of the church and have no intentions of every coming back because of the demands that they saw on their family. I know of more than one broken man who turned his back on his calling because of the incessant and demanding (maybe ungodly?) siren call to be successful in the ministry.

If it seems like that I am on edge with this blog entry, you have discerned correctly. I am angry that some men that I hold in high regard and count as close friends feel that they are colossal failures. I am angry that the American dream has been pulled into their ideas of what a church is to be. I am angry when I see others tossing non-negotiables over the side of the boat, things that are good, godly and necessary, that will take a church to the pit of carnality so it will be tasteful to the community.

You also might wonder what moved me in the direction of this thought and I have confess it was a little book that I recently picked up by Kent and Barbara Hughes entitled Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome. I got it yesterday and started reading it before my mid-week Bible study on 1^st John around 5:30. I came home last night and picked it up again around 10:30 and hang on for the ride until midnight. So compelling was the book that I have spent much time and thought throughout the day reading it. By the way, it is such a book that you read a while and then pray a while. I have prayed for a lot of the Lord's servants today and prayed that He would deliver us from the soul-eating, mind-exploiting, and pride-inducing grasp of “success.”

I am going to give you the introduction and I believe that it will be a worthy investment of your time to go out and find it and read it.

Some onlookers thought it was unusual, but few noticed when the pastor wheeled into the church parking lot in a borrowed pickup truck. But everyone's eyes were upon him when he backed the truck across the lawn to his study door. Refusing comment or assistance, he began to empty his office into the truck bed. He was impassive and systematic: first the desk drawers, then the files, and last his library of books, which he tossed carelessly into a heap, many of them flopping askew like slain birds. His task done, the pastor left the church and, as was later learned, drove some miles to the city dump where he committed everything to the waiting garbage.

It was his way of putting behind him the overwhelming sense of failure and loss that he had experienced in the ministry. This young, gifted pastor was determined never to return to the ministry. Indeed, he never did.

We wrote this book because of this story—and many, too many, others like it. We are concerned about the morale and survival of those in Christian ministry. Pastors, youth workers, evangelists, Sunday School teachers, lay ministers, missionaries, Bible study leaders, Christian writers and speakers, and those in other areas of Christian service often face significant feelings of failure, usually fueled by misguided expectations for success.

It is true that our Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries are flooded annually with bright and motivated students. But it is also true that every year thousands leave the ministry convinced they are failures.

We know what it's like. We too almost succumbed to the enticements. It is our hope that the account of our subtle confusion about success, our near ruin, and ultimately our liberation through the truth of God's Word will aid in delivering others from this unhappy goddess.

This is a portion of the introduction.

Part One is the gut-wrenching story that Kent Hughes writes frankly of his disillusionment with the ministry and with the church.

Part Two of the book deals with the core of success from the biblical model as being faithfulness, serving, loving, believing, prayer, holiness, and attitude.

I think it is worth your time and your money to read this book. I also realize that my tone in the opening salvo of this blog may have been looked upon with some disdain. But my justification, if there is any, is that I know of a lot of men who pouring their lives into the Kingdom of God and feel like defeated failures because their churches aren't measuring up to the one across town or across the country.

Thanks for reading. . . . .

When Good Words Are Ruined

While the world was mired in World War II in the 1940’s, a series of columns begin to appear in a now defunct newspaper called The Guardian. The author of this series was by C. S. Lewis of whom I read after for a number of years now. C. S. Lewis will force a man to think and even lean to the dastardly proclivity of discernment, which has been labeled as a bad thing lately. We user-friendly, password, “don’t give me a manual” type personas have some disdain for thinking. The sort of check your brains in at the door mentality has led to some grief here and there.

When one looks at history, this is not a recent development as one might want or even be inclined to think. The greatest spiritual battlefield is between our ears. It is not Hollywood, the media, the political system, or you-fill-in-the-blank that is the greatest area of spiritual warfare. All of these things have their merit in the spiritual battle but they are nothing more than accomplices to the spiritual battle that occurs in a man’s mind. Trace it out and you will find that the earliest casualty of sin was found when the doubt poisoned the mind. Once the serpent had let the venom of a lie explode in the mind of Eve all other activities of failure simply followed gravity.

Back to Lewis. . . . His little columns ended up becoming a collection of thirty-one little letters. Lewis used his imagination along with some solid Scriptural understandings and formed two characters. Wormwood and Screwtape are vividly brought to life as Lewis drags them out from under their rocks fresh from the Abyss. Wormwood is the nephew and Screwtape is the “affectionate uncle” and both are literally twisted angels, in other words, they are demons on the loose. Screwtape has decidedly determined to “school” his young protégé at how to trip up humans (or vermin) in their attempts to serve God.

At times the conversation is reminiscent of 7^th grade immaturity and mirth between the two but what is so alarming about the book is that the advice being dispensed is deadly in a spiritual sense. Over the years, I periodically sit down and refresh again my thoughts of how that the enemy is still at war in very subtle but effective ways with every man who is walking this path of faith.

In the last few days, one of the methods that Screwtape “enlightens” (or should we say “de-lightens) Wormwood is by corrupting good words. Screwtape writes of the Philological Arm of Hell and how it works. In our modern era this word would probably be better interchanged with linguistics. The Philogical Arm is the study of literature and the disciplines surrounding it. While this does not make much sense that the devil would want to study literature, what does make sense is that more importantly he wants to study what words mean and then daringly but subtly change what the meaning of the word really conveys.

Screwtape informs Wormwood that he needs to take some of the great virtues and associate them with bad “feelings.” If there can be subtle but effective associations that will create bad perceptions or associations so the word can longer have any useful benefit then the job has been done effectively.

One such example that Lewis cites is the word “ascetical.” Instead of the full thought of the word being associated with the discipline that one would be submitted to as Paul infers in 2 Timothy 2, the association must be changed. Instead of it referring to a faithful teacher, focused soldier, a patient farmer, or diligent workman, this “ascetical” life now is made to look like a wild-eyed, disenchanted, crazy mad-man. Make those who are separated to the Gospel look like cult figures in Jim Jones or David Koresh caricatures. “See my dear Wormwood, while we know the great value of living under the values of godliness and righteousness, our lexicographers destroys the hopes of any wanting to pursue such a course in life. We know that this sort of focused life creates great power but by changing the association of the word, it makes it hard for many to want to buy into it. It sounds too extreme.”

As I read through Lewis’ musings it came to my mind that a whole lot of good words have been changed by association in our generation. The more I thought about it the more I understood how the greatest spiritual battlefield does indeed rest between our ears. Clearly understanding that Paul counseled that knowledge would “puffeth up,” (1 Cor. 8:1) I am also queried to balance that caution out with the demand that Paul placed on the New Testament church for discernment (Romans 12:3; Php. 1:9-10; Heb. 5:12-14, etc.).

So with those thoughts rumbling through my mind, I begin to think of some words that the lexicographers from Hell have corrupted for our generation. I pass along this rambling vocabulary for your consideration.

Preaching -- This has been corrupted in several ways. First, you will be hard pressed to find a Joe Blow on the street that has a good association with preaching. Hellish Lexicographical Association: Preaching is pushy, judgmental, harsh, demanding. Preaching is moralistic and creates a wide gulf of separation. So the good word of preaching no longer gets across that there is a life-giving strength and eternal hope spelled out in such a way as to save men from their sins. Another way that preaching has been redefined follows. Hellish Lexicographical Association: Preaching is entirely uplifting, full of blessing, and puts me on a spiritual “high” of feel-good. So the good word of preaching is reduced to warm-fuzzy stories that have been circulated widely in e-mail boxes. The good work of preaching has been diminished when context and hermeneutics have been horribly violated to “encourage” the good folk.

Holiness -- Hellish Lexicographical Association: Prudish, harsh, judgmental folk who sneer at tattoos, body-piercings, and wreckages of sin. They are funny-acting, funny-dressing, funny-talking folk who are dumb as rocks. Watch out for legalistic rule-minders who drag around yard-sticks of condemnation and are ruled by preaching (see above definition part 1) that makes God a horrible and heavy-handed dictator. Instead of allowing the real definition of holiness to be an insatiable hunger for God and the things of His Word, a greater desire to move into avenues of a depth of prayer and revelation, the new inventors make it something that we want to hold at arm’s length.

Ministry -- Hellish Lexicographical Assocation: Big barns, cool lights, nifty Powerpoints, relevance, thousand dollar wardrobes, rigged out cars, and all the other stuff that will be corrupted by rust, eaten by moths, and stolen by thieves. My heart is torn by some of the things that have occurred in the charismatic world in the last few months. While we as Apostolics are widely separated from them in doctrine and lifestyle, the world at large lumps us all together and their view of “ministry” has been soiled by the tawdry evidence. Divorce at will, domestic abuse, extravagant lifestyles, and perverted and salacious living is crippling our credibility. The apostles and the early church were given to prayer, fasting, and ministry of the Word and it turned their world upside down. We must ever remember that the ox is not to be muzzled but at the same time one has to remember that gluttony has to do with more than just food, it has to do with appetite. If Hell can change our job description to something beyond what the pastoral epistles stipulate, particularly 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, we are sunk. Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 4 refers to the ministry as one who are “stewards” or under-rowers of the mysteries of Christ. To further dig into this chapter proves that ministry will be challenging and not always easy.

Doctrine -- Hellish Lexicographical Association: Divisive, useless argument, camel-slapping and gnat-guffawing, dull, impractical (un-relevant, not relevant, lacking relevance), too deep, too demanding, and besides doctrine has now a dirty word. The facts say otherwise. A church and minister that is doctrinally sound has a very solid foundation. Doctrine also keeps one from spiritual error. Just a quick study of the Pauline epistles reveals to us that the Apostle spent much time and energy refuting false doctrine and false teachers. The modern Apostolic church must “nerve up” and face down the errors of our day. Salvation is more than just repentance and baptism, if there is no active evidence of tongues in the initial infilling it becomes another gospel. Paul had his share of miracles, signs, and wonders and he also had his share of solid biblical instruction to the new converts.

I have some other odds and ends but you and I are out of time and I shall not weary you with more.

As always, I am thankful that you have dropped by this blog and read through some of the ramblings.

1 Timothy 4:16 KJV Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Book Recommendation -- American Idols by Bob Hostetler

Over the last several months it has come to my attention that I have neglected one of the early practices of this blog—book reviews. I have been reading but I have failed to continue to write about books that I have gleaned something from.

If you are an avid reader, I am certain that at some points that you have talked back to the books that you read. I figure that if I buy a book, it is my property and I can treat it as such. Therefore, if I want to mark it up, write in the margins, or talk to it, I can have such liberties because it is my property.

Ever since our little Dave Ramsey journey through Financial Peace University, my book purchases have had to be much more judicious. The bad thing about this is that I have been unable to purchase books at a “beyond my ability to read them rate.” The good thing is that I have picked up some older books that have been in my personal library for quite some time and either I have not finished them or had not read them. Because of the Dave Ramsey effect, I now have to wait out my book purchases and instead of impulsively buying them, I can now only get them on a really “need” them level.

Such is the book that I mention now by Bob Hostetler. I went to Lifeway over a period of about two months before I finally pulled the trigger and bought this one. I must admit that I had read large portions of it before I purchased it. Finally I got tired of shifting from one foot to another and reading it in the isle as people busily walked around me.

The whole premise of the book is that America is filled with idols. Hostetler works up a good Bible study beginning on page 9 as he walks through the process in Exodus 32:1-7 that led the children of Israel to build their golden calf. He entitles it “The Alchemy of Idolatry.” I will list the following steps that he brings out that led to their graven image:

• Impatience -- They got tired of waiting for Moses on the mountain. While Moses was receiving the most powerful of revelations for their wilderness passage, they could not wait long enough for God’s timing to develop. “We seek for satisfaction from illegitimate sources because we don’t want to wait for our legitimate Source.”
• Unbelief -- They allowed the impatience of the day to put unbelief into their heart about Moses’ whereabouts. They said “we wot not what has become of him.” This KJVese could be translated, “we don’t even know what has happened to him.” This incited their lurch toward idolatry. We don’t know about tomorrow. Or our prayers. Or our troubles. Or what is awaiting us around the corner. Suddenly the God who had gotten them out had them boxed in.
• Pragmatism -- They desired for someone to make them a god that will lead them on. It did not really matter if the god had life. Aaron, just build us something we can see. It is quite ironic that Moses was getting the instructions for the Tabernacle that would house the most sacred things of Israel while they were clamoring for another god. The demand for a god to make them more comfortable was the thing they wanted. Give us a god we can use. Easy. User-friendly. A serviceable idol.
• Ingratitude -- Another contributing factor to their idolatry was their quick ability to forget where God had brought them from. Romans chapter 1 mentions the wrath of God’s abandonment. One of the characteristics of the godless is that they are “unthankful.” When our prayers lose their gratitude and thankfulness, trouble is brewing. Ingratitude leads on toward a sense of entitlement.
• Regression -- Their spiritual impatience led to a spiritual regression. Aaron’s choice of a golden calf was not a mistake. He was taking one of the most important of the Egyptian gods, Apis, the bull god of Memphis, who was associated with Ptah, the creator of the universe. Anytime our spiritual aspirations sink, we will serve a lesser, earthly, worldly god.
• Compromise -- Notice in Exodus 32:4-5 that Aaron called this golden bull the Lord. In effect he was saying, “Ok, if you must have an idol, let’s at least call it the Lord. Let’s not abandon the first commandment, even if you insist on breaking the second.”
• Corruption -- When the idol set in on them, it devoured them. Their worship became corrupted. The things they once offered the Lord were now placed at the hooves of a surrogate god. It turned into a drunken and debauched deal. “Corrupted worship of the one, true God is not worship of him at all. You cannot mix Living Water and sewage into a potable blend. You cannot make dance partners of holiness and idolatry.”

This book is literally loaded with examples of how that our culture is serving up very weak surrogates for God. This book is worth the time and money. I promise you that your highlighter and red pen will make many marks in the margins.

For the sake of your curiosity I list the chapter titles:

• The eBay Attitude (Consumerism)
• The Darwinian Conjecture (Naturalism)
• The Cowboy Ethic (Individualism)
• The Rock Star Syndrome (Celebrity)
• The Microwave Mentality (Instant Gratification)
• The Superman Myth (Humanism)
• The Cult of Personal Experience (Experience)
• The Lexus Nexus (Success)
• The Eros Ethos (Sensuality, Sexual Freedom)
• The Burger King Way (Choice)
• The Passion for Fashion (Appearance)
• The La-Z-Boy Life (Comfort)
• The Modern Baal (Money)
• The Martha Malady (Busyness)

The Appendix mentions some characteristics of a good church which serves as some extra food for thought.

The Disastrous Emerging Church - Part 2

A few days ago, I spent some time with a couple of the disasters that are coming from the Emerging Church. I took a little time to point out two of the problems that are very subtly finding their way into our churches. Doctrinal indifference has found its way in to pulpits who are concerned with “ministering” to “felt needs.” This style of preaching caters to the idea that the folks in the pews are stressed out and need to find some “word” of encouragement for “relevant” living. Furthermore they do not need to be exposed to the heaviness of doctrine and other ideas that are present in the Word of God.

Doctrine is too deep and unnecessary for we should just “love Jesus”, so they say. But as one looks to the owner’s manual of preaching/pastoral ministry in the pastoral epistles, Paul declared that the very first and primary reason for Scripture was doctrine (2 Timothy 3:16-17). As you read through this passage you also discover that for a righteous man to be thoroughly furnished that the preaching he hears will contain doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. If this is not a part of the steady stream of Word that a congregation is receiving, its immune system will not be at an optimal level to ward off the spiritual diseases that are so prevalent. Brothers, we must preach the Doctrine of the Apostles! I might also add that all of these categories that Paul listed are low on the list in far too many places today.

Secondly, a false sense of humility tries to efface itself in the face of certainty. The Emergents say that no-one can be really certain about salvation. Doug Pagitt, one of the Emergent ringleaders, has endorsed and incorporated the use of yoga with prayer. Talk about another spirit! However, when he was confronted by this exact thought, he hedged and questioned if one could even know for certain that those who practice Eastern mysticism are lost. It appears to me that Pagitt’s familiarity with the Bible is at an all-time low. On the other hand, when you have a very low regard of Scripture as many Emergents do, we should not be surprised at such ideations.

This brings me to the third point the Emergents are doing: They are mocking a strong and solid Biblical message.

Rob Bell, another one of the highly read authors of the Emerging Church, along with his wife was quoted in Christianity Today with the following statement:

"Life in the church had become so small," Kristen says. "It had worked for me for a long time. Then it stopped working." The Bells started questioning their assumptions about the Bible itself—"discovering the Bible as a human product," as Rob puts it, rather than the product of divine fiat. "The Bible is still in the center for us," Rob says, "but it's a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it."

"I grew up thinking that we've figured out the Bible," Kristen says, "that we knew what it means. Now I have no idea what most of it means. And yet I feel like life is big again—like life used to be black and white, and now it's in color." [Andy Crouch, "The Emergent Mystique," Christianity Today (November 2004).]

This was about the time (2004) that Rob Bell’s books begin to hit and they were almost gobbled up like candy. It appealed to a younger generation that was at odds with the operation of church life. It appealed to those who knew little oHowever, when you are greatly uncertain about the Word of God it will be cause you to seek out other alternatives. Bell’s NOOMA video series was also widely accepted and the pied piper of the Emergents was in business. In addition to Bell’s material, Brian Maclaren has literally emasculated Paul’s epistles in many of his books.

Some may wonder why I am spending this much time perhaps provoking your mind and your spirit with to tone of these last two blog entries. The answer is very simple, I am hoping to at least encourage your sense of discernment.

Consider this following video which is a parody of Rob Bell’s NOOMA “Bullhorn Guy” which is a far reach in itself to get the church to soft soap its message. This parody is called “Bullwhip Guy” and sadly this clip may be a parody for those who really believe an absolute message but it is truth for the Emergents.

So the Emergents simper that I am a Pharisee because I believe in a solid, Scriptural plan that calls for a sense of holiness and separation from the world. Now they are raging that in addition to being a Pharisee, I am a “Bullwhip Guy.” I can’t seem to win for losing but one thing is for certain, they may change their characterizations of me but I am certainly not going to change my message to accommodate them!

More to come. . . .

The Disastrous Emerging Church - Part 1

When all the wooing is done, when all the conversation is over, when all the dialogue is completed, and when all the “coolness” has been delivered, what has been masked as Kool-aid is really going to be poison to the soul of the Church. Listen carefully to the voices and take in all of the sound bites. You might even read their books or better yet go to their conferences and memorize their sermons but soon you will come to discover that someone is trying to buy the vineyard. . . . but only if you are discerning enough to not let the package confuse you.

For those who refuse to sell this vineyard, it very well could be stolen from them. Naboth’s greatest legacy was that he gave his life for his heritage. Something that had been delivered to him from the previous generation was so precious that he was unwilling to part with it. Even the king’s money was not enough to dissuade him. What I really admire about Naboth is that he did not even flinch or buckle to the social pressure or political presence of Ahab.

I have some heritage in me that I am unwilling to sell! One particular incident where my heritage takes me goes back twenty-seven years ago when I was 14 years old. My parents took me to my very first General Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The first service we went to was a Harvestime broadcast recording that featured Hugh Rose who led us in “I See A Crimson Stream of Blood.” It was a very powerful shaping moment in my young life to see that many folks singing one of our solidly doctrinal songs written by G. T. Haywood. After this N. A. Urshan and C. M. Becton preached the message.

It was at this conference that some young men were allowed to preach General Conference. Rex Johnson, who was our General Youth President, preached one night. The next night, another young pastor from Raleigh, North Carolina, named Wayne Huntley preached a message that I will never forget. He preached on the necessity of revival and the mandate of staying with the apostolic doctrine. About ¾’s through his message, he asked every preacher who was 35 and under that was going to continue to preach the apostolic message with passion and power to stand and wave their handkerchiefs. The building exploded with men who shook the rafters and waved a sea of white. I was sitting in the risers on the right side of the platform and was literally overwhelmed at that scene. So if you think that I shall sit back 27 years later and not let my dissenting voice be heard, you are terribly wrong. I was not a preacher back then and certainly had no idea that I would ever be one but time passed and God’s calling came and here we are!

Of late (the last two years or so) many have been inundated by the siren song of the Emergents or the Emerging Church. This is particularly an alluring voice in our age of uncertainty. Because everyone has an opinion and talk shows have allowed the foolish to call in and air their grievances to the masses, suddenly “experts” have arisen from under their rocks. What they are bringing to us from under their rocks is a very convoluted view of Scripture and biblical doctrine that has been mixed with worldly philosophy and new methods. What is occurring is what one of our “top-gun” preachers in the UPCI told me less than a year ago, “Preachers these days are bored with preaching and praying.” When we turn our sights from prayer and ministry of the Word, our days of effective ministry will become very limited.

I personally do not think that all of this was initially taken up with the intent to embrace the uncertainty of the Emerging Church. Many of these ideas were taken up in an effort to assist with church growth. We read their books and decided that we would take the good and toss the bad. However, we live in times where there are many seducing spirits that aren’t as easily recognizable as the outright doctrines of devils. Therein is the danger because the more familiar we become with books, techniques, and men the less familiar we become with the Book, the Apostolic method, and God.

Some who are reading this blog may question, what in the world are you writing about? I haven’t the foggiest idea what the Emerging Church is and it really does not effect me. I thought the same thing about 2 years ago too but now as a few miles are starting to stack up, it almost would seem as if everywhere I look there is tiny piece of error that is working its way into the Church.

I will leave a few key points about the Emergents and then post some other things in a few days that will further shed light on this new fad we are facing.

Doctrinal Indifference

The Emerging Church is afraid to say anything that appears to have any Scriptural certainty. They are not certain if there is a Hell or if the Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims will not in the end be saved. In fact, if you read Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell, he did not take very long establishing that he was a universalist. This is a trendy and cool thought for the Emergents to embrace especially in light of their desperation to undo the possibility of hell.

There is great hesitation to embrace any certainty of a strong concept of any salvation message. For those who do say with certainty that there is a specific and Scriptural mode of salvation, a doctrine of separation from the world, and a very clear-cut and defined judgment in the future, they are scoffed at. Not only are they scoffed at but they become shouted down, smirked upon with elitism, and winked at with degrading toleration as a bunch of Pharisees. This is the foxy methods of Brian Maclaren, Rob Bell, Donald Miller and a few others. Doctrinal certainty and great devotion to Scripture is not what makes one a Pharisee. Pharisees become such by the direction of their heart and spirit.

So to further stab home the point of this Pharisee characterization, a parade of harlots, misfits, and down-and-outers are passed in front of us and exalted (not literally but in the metaphorical content of “preaching”). The problem with this is that situational ethics is used to determine doctrine. Nothing could be further from the Truth. The woman in John 4 was a real winner in the eyes of society but her approach to the Christ was correct and she was led into the Kingdom. What is often forgotten by the “Pharisee hunters” is that in the chapter immediately preceding, a Pharisee (imagine that!), was given incredible insight into salvation. Such was his devotion to the Lord that some historians believe that Nicodemus was one of those involved in removing him from the Cross. God changed both of them. He changed the woman with wrecked morals and He changed the man with the pristine pedigree. Key point being that both of them were changed!

What is unnerving to the Emergent proponents is that anyone could be so certain about what Scripture has to say. So now salvation can become whatever they make it. Good morals, folks trying to do their best, or working in as much “light” as they have all become the path for salvation. The “what if’s” become the center point of theology for the Emergents.

A False Sense of Humility

Working in tandem with this doctrinal indifference is a false sense of humility. It works like this, “I would never want to say that I could know the purpose and intent of Scripture. I would never be so judgmental to say that someone was lost (even those who are in the blackest of sin). It’s just not my call, I would rather leave it all up to God to determine who is saved and lost, blah, blah, blah. . .” When this happens the table is turned on the “Pharisee” who is certain of the New Birth message, of the great doctrines of the Bible, of the inerrancy and clarity of Scripture, and of the principles of holiness and separation.

What this sense of false humility really does is undermine the Gospel and turns it into a very ambiguous and pliable something or other that has no ability to save at all. Yet this is very appealing to those who have fallen under the sway of the spirit of the age. This false sense of humility actually allows culture to rule the authority of the Gospel. It works well with those who refuse to submit to authoritative biblical truth that will correct worldly lifestyles, unholy minds, and ungodly behavior.

The prevailing problem this false humility presents is that what martyrs once died for has been so drastically changed that it now has no power to change lives in our generation. The cry for keeping it about Jesus rings hollowly because whatever Jesus comes into contact with, He radically changes. If you want a Crown, it will be preceded by a Cross. Somehow cross-bearing changes the way you walk, talk, and so on. . . .

To Be Continued. . . .

When Light Bearers Get Weary

A recent post by a pastor on an internet forum to which I belong struck me directly in the heart. There are certain occupational hazards involved with all professions but there are none that can rival that of being involved in active ministry. The man who is really involved in ministry will find himself having to see both sides of people. He will see the genuine and authentic and at the same time will see the shams and charlatans. At times trying to factor in the kaleidoscope of feelings can create much heaviness of heart.

Periodically, they who bear the light find the light sometimes gets a little heavy. Those in ministry too often find their steps are more stumbling and heavy than they are purposed and planned. There are some very distinct reasons for that. I believe that first and foremost is the unrelenting spiritual battle that is being fought out in places that we cannot see. Sometimes I think I could fight better if I could see what I was fighting. That is probably nothing more than an echo of something that you have said sometime in the past. You must always remember that the intent of the spiritual battle is to decimate our ministry and to paralyze any effectiveness that flows from our lives and our prayers. This spiritual battle is also opposing our hopes, desires, and visions of revival and spiritual growth in the place where we serve.

A stroll through by-gone years yields a wealth of lessons to us even now. Charles Spurgeon, Alexander Maclaren, Alexander Whyte, John Henry Jowett, Andrew Bonar, and Robert Murray McCheyne were all men who battled with discouragement, some even bordered on depression. I have a feeling that were we able to revisit some of the lives of the greatest Apostolic preachers who are now in the grave that we would find that there were times that despair dogged their steps and troubled their hearts. In fact, I have read an account of T.W. Barnes life by Nona Freeman and it seems to document that there were times in his life that deep and dark depression dogged his path. In addition to Brother Barnes, I have heard messages preached by J.T. Pugh, James Kilgore, and Billy Cole that all seemed to indicate that they faced some very dark and depressing days in ministry. All must periodically have to traverse the valley of despair.

“I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.” Charles Spurgeon, Statement from a sermon in 1866

“Personally I have often passed through this dark valley.” Charles Spurgeon, Statement from a sermon in 1887

I recently heard a very prominent minister on the radio say that he had never dealt with despair, discouragement, or depression. When I heard that, I thought to myself, that he obviously is either entirely out of touch with his church or he does not have much of a heart for what he is doing. Our age is frankly careening out of control and the ravages of sin that is destroying not just single individuals but entire families and sometimes even encroaching in on churches ought to be enough for him to feel a burden of some kind. Jeremiah, the man who was a weeper, wanted his head to become a fountainhead of tears. Scattered about Paul’s epistles, one finds Paul making references to the tears that poured not only from his eyes but from his heart over the condition of those to whom he ministered. There is an incredible sermon that one could preach on the “Tears of Jesus” because it gives insight into what saddened the Lord. I ask you, can your ministry, for that matter any ministry, really be effective that knows no tears and has not been wilted with the burden of despair?

For several days, I mulled over what I heard this radio minister say and I came to some conclusions as to why we who bear the light sometimes find the light heavy to bear. What follows is not exhaustive nor in any category of significance. Each one of these reasons can usher despair and discouragement into our own lives.

Sometimes because of the overwhelming, troubling circumstances in the lives of those whom we have been called to serve and to lead. When one starts trying to put marriages back together, one finds this to be very taxing. Trying to unravel the feelings of betrayal and distrust, staggering anger, burning resentment, and replace all of this with a sense of forgiveness and restoration our work is cut out for us. Several years ago, I was involved with an estranged couple who was remotely attached to our church and in trying to help the situation I came to understand that there were unbelievable amounts of venom stored in both of their hearts that had been accumulating over the years. Children were involved and there was no way that I could just leave my emotions at the door and not feel the perplexity of the whole situation. However, with my involvement in that situation along with a whole host of other daily cares of the church that it was not long before I began to sink under the burden of bearing the light to the dark places. All ministers have mirroring situations that seems to pull the life out of you.

After working with this disastrous marital conflict, the enemy started whispering to me all sorts of things and soon that wicked self-analysis began to take place. Where had my prayers been directed? How long had I been praying? How much had I been fasting? What had I been preaching? What sort of services had we been having? On and on the enemy wrestled me down into the slough of despond. Through that course of struggle, the Lord brought it to my mind that we cannot live the lives of others. We can minister and pray and do the best we can but other than that we can do nothing more. These individuals must have their own personal sense of commitment and responsibility to allow them to overcome the difficulties. Still on and on we move because of a degree of certain hopefulness that people will change. I am aware that the heavenly treasure still has to reside in an earthen vessel until we cross the finish line and that knowledge causes me to stretch and reach as far as I can. No doubt all of us have experienced victory with those whom at one time or another everyone else had given up on them.

Sometimes the light gets heavy because of the responsibility of bringing revival to our place of calling. There is great spiritual energy that is expended when one begins to embark in the ministry of intercession and spiritual awakening. No real revival can come without places of intense prayer and personal sacrifice. Our own carnality tugs at our souls and our prayers are hindered. Our deadness of mind brings an empty yield from the Scriptures. When you begin to mix some fasting in with that, the body screams and complains and tries to overwhelm our emotions. Can your ministry really be effective until it has been brushed with despair and the disappointment of life?

Revival brings about our own knowledge that there is something within that is dead that was once alive. Anytime we begin to acknowledge that we have lost an edge that we once had and again this is a reason for despair. To have knowledge that our prayer life was once more vibrant, that our study was more disciplined, that our preaching was more passionate, and that our personal evangelism efforts were greater, there is a certain blackness that begins to creep over the horizon of the soul.

Sometimes the light becomes weighty when we confront sin. The prophets were martyred, the apostles were martyred, and others have been destroyed because they chose to confront sin. Chances are that in our time we probably will not be martyred for the confrontation of sin but despair will set in when you have to confront moral failure from those in high level leadership. Despair will set in when you confront character flaws that are present because of sin. One of the most difficult things that a pastor has to do is to confront sin in the people that he loves. If you don’t love the saints at your place, it is pretty easy to confront their sin because there is no emotional connection. On the other hand if you have fallen in love with where you serve, confronting sin is emotionally devastating. I am not having reference to soft-soaping and going easy on sin, I am writing that if you have a concern for how things turn out in the lives of people, bearing the light that exposes sin and darkness is sometimes difficult. The desolation of sin continues to eat away long after it has been confronted. There can be an accompanying despair that comes when we reach down and try to restore the fallen. The restoration of the fallen forces us to assess what has been lost and to what degree those things can be restored.

Sometimes the light becomes heavy when we are in conflict. One of the general buzzwords these days in leadership circles is something called conflict management. Major seminaries are now offering classes at the masters and doctoral levels which have to do with conflict management. These savvy business principles are relied on to reduce conflict to a point of become “manageable” in churches and relationships. Frankly these high level precepts fly in the face of the basic concepts of Christianity. Two thousand years ago, my executive director and your executive director lectured from a little mount, a sermon. Indeed, the Sermon on the Mount does not recommend conflict management, it recommends peacemaking. Blessed are the peacemakers. . . . . . Sometimes to make peace, it requires the courage of character to say, “I was wrong, will you forgive me?” No matter whom we are working with, we owe it to our own peace of mind to settle the issues. The longer that conflict brews, the longer it pushes one toward bitterness, and that bitterness becomes the blight of the soul that dims the vision with despair. Undoubtedly there are times that conflict introduces us to enemies within who find some twisted sense of purpose in destroying a minister and the church.

Other times despair comes to us because of pride. What a strange twist to think that a light bearer can become full of despair because of pride. I heard of a man who lived in a modest home that suited his needs. One Saturday, he worked diligently on his lawns mowing, edging, trimming, and finally watering. While he was sitting on his back deck listening to the sprinklers tick along and feeling the contented satisfaction of working hard and accomplishing something but all of that would change in a flash. He picked up a glass of cold, pink lemonade and began to look through one of his wife’s magazines, Better Homes and Gardens, he had hardly turned ten pages before he begin to curiously envy all of the “other” houses and “other” lawns and gardens that were glossily printed. Before he knew it, sudden despair had replaced his feelings of contentment and he begin to almost curse the “dump” that he lived in. That sort of thing can happen to us when we start looking at other men’s fields of labor. It can happen to us when we start looking at other churches, at other ministries besides the one that God has called us to. Most likely what we need during this time of pressure is most often a vacation. Time away from the battle does amazing things for us. It restores our vision and clears the clouds of despair.

Another reason that we may be overcome with despair is when the “upper room” has been forsaken. This has to do with our private times of devotion. How elementary that it seems to us that the Lord told his disciples to go and “tarry.” This time of waiting pulled them out of the teeth of the emotional storm they had been going through the last forty days. The “upper room” must exist in our life. The “upper room” of personal prayer, personal Bible reading, and a hunger for personal holiness has to take precedence in your and my lives. When we minister out of emptiness, not a lot can happen. When we preach out of books and not out of personal study and personal experience, churches wilt on the vine. When we pray only in the “official” settings of our calling, despair trips us when we least expect it. I trust that we can find that deluge of the Spirit that washes away all of the superficial aspects of our public ministry.

A few more that you can consider: Sometimes despair is ordained by God for our lives. The Lord endured Gethsemane and Job endured the terrible loss of family, property, and possessions. Sometimes despair comes because we lose things close to our hearts. Imagine the pain of an axed friendship between Paul and Barnabas over the John Mark factor. Sometimes we despair because of where the seed falls. We are not responsible for the ground but rather the sowing of the seed. Keep sowing the seeds of faith regardless of how the wayside, the stony, and the thorny ground may receive it.

When dreams slip through your hands, doubt visits, discouragement summons, and the heart is broken, and the cursed despair has a tendency to settle in and make your heart his home, it is not the end. Remember there is a source of love that needs to be visited again. That source of love is the very source who called you into ministry. When God called you into this ministry, He did so for a reason. There was something within your life that He found very crucial to the success of the Kingdom. So I tell you to take heart in all that you are currently doing. Do it as unto the Lord and allow Him to revisit you with fresh anointing and fresh power.

I confess to you that more times than once, I have managed to limp into a late evening prayer meeting, alone, where that I have lain out the whole situation before God. It is amazing what happens when we confess to God our own weakness in trying to bring about the progress of His Kingdom. The further down the road that I go the more I become increasingly convinced that He rejoices in our own weakness and inabilities. At that point, when we become brave enough or weak enough to say that we cannot pastor a church or evangelize a community or reach around the world with missions, He reminds us that those who have thorns are those who have the greater measures of grace. Gather the light and carry it on, and as Robert Frost put it sometime ago we have miles and miles to go before we sleep . .

May grace and peace be with you all. . . . .

Philip Harrelson

Please Know This. . .

Please know that on this day that I prayed for you. I did not call out your name because I did not know who you were. . . . . But please know that I prayed for you. . . . .I prayed in this manner. . . .

God, please touch those out there whose minds are being slowly captured by doubt. They are slowly being blinded to their need for God and they are slowly getting further and further from You.

God, please help that pastor and his wife who are faithfully serving you and trying to bring the knowledge of the holy to those saints who are against them. I prayed that God would strengthen you amidst the withering criticism that has created dread in your heart for any place of ministry that you have to go to. I prayed that God would deliver you from the hands of carnal men who are so opposed to the extension of the Kingdom of God.

God, please help those marriages that the fires have almost entirely flickered out. I prayed for those whose words toward their spouses have become spears that wound not the body but the heart. I prayed that the excitement and hope that walked down the isle the day you were married would return. I prayed that there would be a spirit of reconciliation to come and put the war to rest.

God, please help those faithful saints who are having to weather the demands of a pastor whose expectations are putting huge yokes on their spirits. I prayed for saints who are nothing more than pawns in the hands of a minister's ungodly ambition. I prayed for saints who have been wounded by out-of-control men who are not shepherds but are "lords" over the heritage that is supposed to belong to God.

God, please bring life and energy to those who are working on a job that is demanding greater production with smaller means to accomplish the task. I prayed for those whose directors, bosses, overseers, and supervisors are wicked and unprincipled and have a trail of bodies behind their accomplishments. I prayed that God would help those who are working for low wages and yet have high commitments with financial obligations.

God, please help those who cannot see tomorrow's light because of today's darkness. Let them understand that sometimes the most important thing about living is simply walking the path that does not have much glamor but much responsibility. I prayed that God would give you enough manna for the day so that when tomorrow gets here, your faith will be stronger because you made it through your yesterday.

Please know that on this day. . . I prayed for you . . .